Ahad. See Achad.
Ahalim and Ahaloth. See Aloe.
Ahar'all (Heb. Achrach' , ITnnx, perh. offer the brother; Sept. 'Actpa), the third son of Benjamin (1 Chron. viii, 1), elsewhere called Em (Gen. xlvi, 21), Ahiram (Numb, xxvi, 38), and Aher (1 Chron. vii, 12). See Ahiram.
Ahar'hel (Heb. Acharchel', brnnx, appar. born behind the breastwork ; Sept. dSe\<pog 'Pjjxg/3), a son of Harum, whose families are named as among the line- age of Coz, a descendant of Judah (1 Chron. iv, 8). B.C. post 1612. See Harum.
Alias'ai (Heb. Achzay' ', htFtX, prob. a prolonged form of A haz ; Sept. omits, Yulg. Ahazi), a grandson of Immer and grandfather of Amashai (Nch. xi, 13). Gesenius thinks him the same with Jaiizerah (q. v.), who is made the great-grandson of Immer in 1 Chron. ix, 12.
Alias'bai (Heb. Achasbay', ^S&flX, prob. bloom- ing; Sept. 'Ax«T/3ru v. r. 'A<T/3iY»/r;), a Maachathite, father of one of David's warriors, Eliphalet (2 Sam. xxiii, 34) ; apparently called Uk (q. v.) in the parallel passage (1 Chron. xi. 35).
Ahasue'rus(Heb. Achashverosh' , O'THdnX, prob. the Hebrew form of Xerxes; Tobit xiv, 15, 'A<T(>//poc), the name, or rather the title, of three or four Median and Persian monarchs in the Bible. See Media ; Persia. The true native orthography of the name Xerxes, long a subject of dispute (Simonis Lex. V. T. p. 580; Jahn, Einleit . ins A . T. p. 299; Pott, Etymol. Forsch. i, 65 ; Hyde, Eel. Vet. Pers. p. 43), has recent- ly been brought to light from the cuneiform inscrip- tions of Persepolis (Grotefend, in Heeren's Ideen, i, 2, pi. 4), where it is written khshyarsha (Niebuhr, ii, p. 24), or Ksharsa (Lassen, Keilschr. p. 23), which seems to correspond to the modern Persian shyr-shah, lion- king (Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 75), corresponding near- ly to the interpretation, cipifioc, given by Herodotus (vi, 98). It maj"- be of service here to prefix a chro- nological table of the Medo-Persian kings from C}T- axares to Artaxerxes Longimanus, according to their ordinary classical names. The Scriptural names con- jectured to correspond to them are added in italics. See Cuneiform Inscriptions; Hieroglyphics.
1. Ovaxares, king of Media, son of Phraortes. grand- son of Deioces, and conqueror of Nineveh, began to reign B.C. 634. "Ahasuerus" 4.
2. Astyages his son, last king of Media, B.C. 594. "Ahastterw" 1.
3. Cyrus, son of his daughter Mandane and Cam- byses, a Persian noble, first king of Persia, 559. "Cy- rus."
4. Cambyses his son, 529. "Ahasuerus" 2.
5. A Magian usurper, who personates Smerdis, the younger son of Cyrus, 521. "Artaxerxes" 1.
6. Darius Hystaspis, raised to the throne on the overthrow of the Magi, 521. "Darius" 2.
7. Xerxes, his son, 485. "Ahasuerus" 3.
K. Artaxerxes Longimanus (Macrocheir), his son, 465-495. "Artaxerres" 2.
1, The Jirst Ahasucrus (Sept. 'Acrovripoc, Theodo-
AHASUERUS
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tion Espfyc) is incidentally mentioned in Dan. ix, 1 as the father of Darius (q. v.) the Mede. It is gener- ally agreed that the person here referred to is the As- tyages (q. v.) of profane history. (Jehring, in the Biblioth. Brem. viii, 565 sq. ; Bertholdt, Excurs. zum Dan. ii, 848 sq.) According to others, however (Raw- linson's Herodotus, i, ess. 3, § 11), his father, Cyaxares (q. v.), is meant, as in Tobit xiv, 15.
2. The second Ahasuerus (Sept. ' \ooovr)poiS) occurs in Ezra iv, G, where it is said that in the beginning of his reign the enemies of the Jews wrote an accusation against them, the result of which is not mentioned (Haverniek, Einleit. ii, i, 29C). Chronologers have been very much divided in identifying this prince with those mentioned in profane history (Prideaux's Connection; Gray's Key ; Tomline's Elements ; Hale's Analysis; Ussher's Annals) ; so much so that some au- thor or another has sought to identify him in turn with each personage in the line of Persian kings, unless it be Cyrus and Smerdis. The form of the word favors Xerxes, but this is inconclusive, as it is rather a title than a distinctive proper name. The account of Jo- sephus (Ant. xii, 6) favors the popular identification with Artixerxes Longimanus, but his testimony is mere opinion in such a case, and this king is elsewhere mentioned in this very book of Scripture (Ezra vii, 1) by his usual name. The order of time in the sacred narrative itself requires us to understand Cambyses (q. v.), son of Cyrus, who came to the throne B.C. 529, and died after a reign of seven years and five months. His character was proverbially furious and despotic. Much confusion has been caused by mis- taking this Ahasuerus for the following (Stud. u. Krit. 1847, iii, 6G0, 669, 678).
3. The third Ahasuerus (Sept. 'ApraZlp&ic) is the Persian king of the book of Esther. The chief facts recorded of him there, and the dates of their occurrence, which are important in the subsequent inquiry, are these : In the third year of his reign he made a sump- tuous banquet for all his nobility, and prolonged the feast for 180 days. Being on one occasion merry with wine, he ordered his queen, Vashti, to be brought out, to show the people her beaut.y. On her refusal thus to make herself a gazing-stock, he not only indignant- ly divorced her, but published an edict concerning her disobedience, in order to insure to every husband in his dominions the rule in his own house. In the sev- enth year of his reign he married Esther, a Jewess, who, however, concealed her parentage. In the twelfth year of his reign his minister Haman, who had received some slights from Mordecai the Jew, offered him 10,000 talents of silver for the privilege of ordering a massa- cre of the Jews in all parts of the empire on an appoint- ed day. The king refused this immense sum, but ac- ceded to his request ; and couriers were despatched to the most distant provinces to enjoin the execution of this decree. Before it was accomplished, however, Mordecai and Esther obtained such an influence over him that he so far annulled his recent enactment as to despatch other couriers to empower the Jews to defend themselves manfully against their enemies on that day ; the result of which was that the}* slew 800 of his native subjects in Shushan, and 75,000 of them in the provinces. (See Jour. Sac. Lit. July, I860, p. 385 sq.)